RICO Review Summary

Stylish cel-shaded visuals and fun core co-op make it best with friends, but repetitive gameplay, dead online servers, and frequent crashes hold it back.

Best played with friends: Many reviewers emphasize that the game is significantly more enjoyable when played with a friend or in co-op. The cooperative dynamic is frequently cited as the main reason for fun and replayability.

Core gameplay is fun: Reviewers consistently describe the core gameplay loop as enjoyable and entertaining, even when acknowledging flaws. The game is considered fun in theory and in practice.

Stylish cel-shaded visuals: The cel-shaded art style, often compared to Borderlands or XIII, is widely praised for being cool and visually appealing. Graphics are considered a strong point.

Solid gunplay and weapon feel: The shooting mechanics are frequently described as satisfying, tight, and responsive. Weapons feel good to use, contributing to the overall enjoyment.

Procedural generation adds replayability: Randomly generated levels and maps are praised for keeping each playthrough fresh and preventing staleness. This feature is seen as a key strength that enhances replay value.

Repetitive and monotonous gameplay: Players consistently describe the core loop as highly repetitive, with the same kick-door-shoot-enemies pattern repeating across missions. The gameplay becomes stale within a few levels and offers little variety.

Online co-op servers shut down: The online servers have been shut down, making online co-op completely unavailable despite being a key advertised feature. This also disables daily challenges and some single-player modes.

Boring after short play sessions: Many players report the game becomes boring very quickly, often within the first hour or after only a couple of missions. The experience fails to sustain interest beyond brief sessions.

Poor and incompetent enemy AI: Enemy AI is described as dumb, braindead, and lacking intelligence, with enemies either standing still, charging mindlessly, or getting stuck on geometry. This severely undermines combat encounters.

Janky and unpolished experience: The game feels rough around the edges, clunky, and buggy, resembling an unfinished early access title. Lack of polish affects controls and overall playability.

Local and online co-op: Players emphasize that the game supports both local and online cooperative play, with many noting it is best enjoyed with a friend. Co-op is a core feature with split-screen and online options available.

Roguelike FPS with procedural levels: The game is repeatedly described as a roguelike or roguelite first-person shooter with randomly generated levels, enemies, and items. Procedural generation and roguelite structure are central to its identity.

Split-screen co-op support: Split-screen two-player co-op is specifically mentioned as a supported feature, alongside online play. This allows local multiplayer without separate systems.

Online multiplayer connectivity: Online multiplayer, including peer-to-peer connections, is a supported feature. Some players highlight multiplayer as a strength of the game.

Breach-and-clear tactical room clearing: Core gameplay involves kicking down doors, clearing rooms of enemies, and using bullet time triggered by breaching. This tactical room-clearing loop is a defining mechanic.

Frequent crashes and freezes: Players report frequent crashes, freezes, and lockups in various situations, including gameplay, menus, loading, and quitting. These issues make the game unplayable for some users.

High FPS and smooth performance: Several players report excellent performance, with high frame rates (e.g., 400 fps, 1k fps in menus) and smooth gameplay at 4K or max settings. The game is well-optimized for some hardware.

Performance stuttering and frame drops: Many users experience stuttering, frame rate issues, and drops, especially on lower-end systems or during intense action. Some note that performance degrades after extended play.

Bugs and glitches: Various bugs are reported, including AI pathfinding issues, co-op bugs that remove gun skins and disable weapons, and general glitches. Some players find the game filled with bugs.

Netcode and synchronization issues: Online multiplayer suffers from desync on damage taken and netcode failures to register hits. Server issues also make some modes unplayable.

Wait for a sale: A recurring theme is that the game is only worth buying at a discount, not at full price. Reviewers repeatedly advise waiting for a sale or buying only on a steep discount.

Best played in co-op: Many reviewers emphasize that the game is far more enjoyable with a friend in co-op and can feel dull or frustrating when played solo. They recommend buying it specifically for cooperative sessions.

Not worth full price: Multiple clusters explicitly state the game is not worth the asking price, with some saying it is not worth buying even at a deep discount. This reinforces the strong price sensitivity.

Recommended for FPS fans: The game is frequently recommended to fans of first-person shooters and action movies, particularly those who enjoy police-themed gameplay similar to PAYDAY 2.

Avoid if no co-op partner: Some reviewers warn against buying if you plan to play alone or cannot find a friend, as the game is designed for co-op. They suggest only getting it on sale if you have someone to play with.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 3.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endgame: 7.5h.

RICO often delivers immediate arcade FPS fun, especially through slow-motion room clearing and co-op, but many players report that repetition, difficulty spikes, and weak long-term progression erode enjoyment.

Friction: Repetitive procedural room-clearing; Online co-op server and matchmaking problems; Unclear tutorial and learning curve; Limited weapon variety and upgrades; Clunky or floaty controls and no jump; Late-game difficulty spikes and unfair enemy AI.

Unlock drivers: Playing co-op with a friend, which reviewers say elevates the experience and makes weaknesses easier to overlook; Slow-motion bullet time, which helps manage non-regenerating health and room entries; Weapon and perk unlocks, which reviewers say provide meaningful progression and support higher difficulties; Procedural mission generation, which initially keeps levels from feeling stale.

Co-op Social Action Player: Coordinates with a friend in online or split-screen co-op, breaching rooms and using slow-mo. Motivation: Shared fast-paced co-op action with friends. Stance: buy.

Solo Roguelike Progression Grinder: Runs solo Quickplay or Daily missions, grinds perks and weapon unlocks, and repeats procedural levels. Motivation: Unlock progression and endless randomized replay. Stance: sale.

Old-School Arcade FPS Veteran: Aggressive room clearing with constant weapon switching, door kicks, and slow-mo bursts. Motivation: Nostalgic, skill-driven arcade FPS combat. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The audit finds mixed Steam Deck reports. The game can run flawlessly for some users and has good controller support, but other reviews show non-native compatibility requiring GE-Proton9-5, unverified status, difficult aiming without gyro, and strange controls. Overall it is playable with tinkering rather than broken.

Monetization: The reviews mention paid DLC, a DLC-related bug, and speculation that some mechanics resemble live-service monetization. None provides direct evidence of real-money in-game purchases, paid gacha, loot boxes, pay-to-win systems, or a cash shop. The score remains in the fair range because the evidence is limited to DLC complaints and speculative comparisons.

Borderlands-style cel-shaded visuals: Many reviewers compare the game's art style to Borderlands, describing it as cel-shaded and comic-like. Similar comparisons are also made to Telltale games and XIII.

Limited content and short playtime: Feedback frequently mentions that the game is very short, with playtimes ranging from 0.5 to 3 hours, and lacks enough content to justify its price. Some note it becomes repetitive quickly.

XIII-style comic graphics: Graphics are compared to the game XIII, with a comic book or cel-shaded aesthetic.

Compared to Hotline Miami: The game is often described as a 3D version of Hotline Miami, evoking nostalgia but considered less enticing by some.

Available on multiple platforms: The game is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.